Let's Make Something! #3
- Dec 29, 2025
- 7 min read
Where has the time gone? This was supposed to be a November update, but clearly the holiday season got the better of me. Even though I kept busy enough to lose track of the time, I was able to find plenty of time to be creative, and I'm happy to share my endeavors.
My Shop
My White Christmas stickers have been in the shop all year long, but as the Winter Holidays are upon us and the snow is either here or on it's way, they're flying out of my inventory a little bit faster!
I also brought back my Buddy The Elf and Polar Express Sleigh Bell stickers to join the party — but my stock is low!! [There was supposed to be a restock earlier this month, but keeping up with things this Holiday season proved more challenging than I anticipated!]
Works in Progress
As I hinted at in my last monthly update, I have fallen in love with the KPop Demon Hunters movie on Netflix! It's been a while since I made another update to my Lil Bitties series (find the collection scattered through my Instagram Feed) but I think it's only fitting that the characters who bring it back would be Huntr/x themselves!
I LOVE the way they're looking so far, and hope to have them in my shop as stickers once I'm happy with the way they look. Keep an eye out on my socials to see when they're finished!
If you remember my Knitted Striped Scarf from my previous updates, she's gotten BIGGER! I swear, one moment I was dreaming of what a full scarf of this project, and the next thing I knew, I was half-way there! It's crazy to look at something like this and be able to recognize it as my project and part of a wearable accessory at the same time. Needless to say, I'm very much looking forward to being able to wear it, and say "Oh this? I made it!"
The Game Chair
Preparing for Thanksgiving this year has taken me away from my games — my "Oven Temp Playbook" could've rivaled your favorite sports team, but it only got there with dedicated recipe research.
BUT I did pick up Animal Crossing New Horizons again this month, being able to sit on the couch with my switch while my fiance started playing Skate 3, which is wildly entertaining to backseat play 😉
I'm currently trying to remodel my island, taking on the Forever Save mentality of the Sims 4 (which I've rambled about in my first update) where people try to stick to one save file, and NOT go back start from scratch. I was just shy of resetting my whole island… but thinking of everything I'd accumulated through the years ,and the villagers I refuse to let leave, I decided to do it manually.
It's been a really rewarding process! I've mapped out my whole Island, and been able to figure out how I want the final product to look, which has been monumental in helping me determine which task I'm going to accomplish each time I play. That sense of direction has helped make it easier to pick up where I left off when I inevitably take a few month break…
When I started my island, I thought it would be fun to have all of the villagers grouped together in a sort of neighborhood on the far side of the island, and for a while I enjoyed the layout! But after seeing other people decorate what was essentially "front yards" for the villagers that were so cute and personal, my closely-grouped suburbs felt bare.
It's been really fun to set aside dedicated space for each villager, making the spaces feel unique and lived in. And as a bonus, it's been a great way for me to use a lot of the junk decoration items that I had to have, but have been sitting in my house's inventory collecting digital dust.
One of my other favorite features has been the relocation of my Museum. Starting out, I had no idea where I'd be putting everything (or that I'd be moving the buildings at least three times) and my museum never felt like it was in a convenient location. So in my last few sessions, I've built up a water feature behind Town hall, moved my own home to that second cliff level, and placed my Museum right in the center of it all on a third level cliff.
Having my home and the museum close to the center of the island, right by all the shops and resources, has already made my game play a lot more enjoyable. It helps with the subconscious routine I've developed when I load into my island; I check the shops for new items and clothes, stop by Island Services to continue with my next construction project, etc. And then when I'm finished, I can sell my findings, deliver goods to the museum, and arrive back to my home and the end the day.
Good Eats
A November update would have helped shorten this section… I promise I'm not running a cooking blog! Between Thanksgiving, our Christmas Party, and just general kitchen adventures, I have SO MUCH I want to share! I'll do my best to keep it under control…
The Pizza Oven
My boyfriend and I love making our own pizzas. Since he's from New York, he enjoys a slice of pizza that's a bit closer to home than your standard Pizza Hut or Domino's. As someone who is lactose-intolerant, I enjoy putting whatever. I. want. on my Pizzas — Goat cheese and Brie are my best friends, their low-lactose content lets me enjoy foods I miss so much without regretting my life choices later.
Earlier this month, we had a pizza that absolutely stole the show. I mean, we really outdid ourselves with this one… It's incredibly important that you try a Goat Cheese pizza, topped with Chorizo crumbles, Parmesan cheese and a Honey drizzle. I've been chasing the high of making this pizza since we met a few weeks ago, and I'm probably going to recreate her again in the coming weeks.
The Thanksgiving Table
Now that you've been properly introduced to my star creation — you'll thank me for that one on your next pizza night — I would like to address the Turkey in the room.
This year we hosted family for Thanksgiving, which you may have guessed from the Oven Temp & Time Playbook I mentioned earlier. As a Thanksgiving rookie (but a self-appointed 2-time family hosting champ), I wanted to share some of the tricks that helped me out a lot this year.
Don't Forget your Slow Cookers! This year I had my slow cooker working on the Green Bean Casserole while it was tucked off to the side, keeping the oven clear for the Turkey to shine! It's made exactly the same as your staple, but I used fresh green beans, so I found that I should have kept mine slow cooking a lot longer. [Next time, I'm aiming for at least 3 hours, like in this recipe from Slimming Violet]
Using a Mandolin to slice my potatoes meant they were ready to mash almost as soon as the water came to a boil, and helped cut down on my knife work. When so much of this day is already spent in the kitchen, I'm taking the shortcuts where i can get them!
Don't Over-Do It! I've only cooked Thanksgiving two years in a row, so of course I'm still learning this one. But trying to be impressive and make a wide variety of dishes for everyone to enjoy left us throwing away a charcuterie board nobody was hungry enough to touch (still crying about my poor salami roses), boxing away half of the appetizers to become Girl Dinner the day after, and enough leftover potatoes to make Shepherds Pie – which I saved on my Pinterest.
While Thanksgiving leftovers are part of the fun for some people — and not a bad thing to have!! — had I known just how much of my hard work wasn't going to get eaten, I could have lessened my load significantly, and been better off for it once I finally left the kitchen. Choose what's most important for you and your people, and don't be afraid to cut things out or halve recipes!
Holiday Cheer
My fiance and I hosted a Holiday Happy Hour for our friends this year, and I have to say, the snack table was a glorious sight to behold. We asked people to bring a snack of their choice to take a load off of our kitchen – we didn't need Thanksgiving 2.0 – and not only was everything amazing, but I'm happy to report that the dishes we served didn't even make it to the end of the night…
Remember those Bacon Wrapped Dates I talked about last time? They were super easy, delicious, and disappeared before I could give them a second glance; I'm very glad I stole a few as I put them on the serving tray. I saved a great recipe from Sugar Maple Farmhouse on my Pinterest for you to try!
To rehash my attempt to remember my slow cooker, that's exactly which kitchen tool helped make a Buffalo Chicken dip that not only tasted great, but also used a variety of Green Valley's Lactose Free cheeses (not sponsored, but I wouldn't be upset about it) to make a dish that not only tasted great, but required zero Dairy Pill calculations to enjoy.
The chicken breasts sat cooking for a few hours, were shredded in my Kitchen Aid, and then married the cheeses, ranch, and buffalo sauce right up until our friends started arriving. This is officially going into my "Lactose-Free but no-one is upset about it" playbook! 🙌
Thanks for reading! I hope everyone has a Happy Holiday Season, for everything you're celebrating! I'll catch you with another – hopefully more timely – update in 2026.
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